Datsyuk, Zetterberg push Stars to brink

May 13, 2008 - 4:57 AM

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Pavel Datsyuk had gone 445 regular-season
games and 72 playoff contests without recording a hat trick. The
first of his NHL career put the Detroit Red Wings within one
victory of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Datsyuk scored three times and Henrik Zetterberg added a goal
and two assists as the top-seeded Red Wings took a commanding
lead in their Western Conference final series with the
fifth-seeded Dallas Stars by posting a 5-2 triumph Monday in
Game Three.

"(I) tried to skate more, go deep in the zone, make the
defensemen turn," Datsyuk said of his first hat trick. "Tried
to go to the net and shoot everything on (goaltender Marty)
Turco. Actually, today I had three good passes, used the
chances."

Jiri Hudler also scored and defenseman Brian Rafalski notched a
pair of assists for Detroit, which grabbed a three-games-to-none
advantage in the best-of-seven series.

"It was one of those games we found a way to win," Red Wings
coach Mike Babcock said. "And our big guys, Datsyuk and
Zetterberg, were absolutely phenomenal. I thought our D was
very good and Ozzie (Chris Osgood) was, as well."

Osgood made 16 saves in improving to 9-0 this postseason for the
Red Wings, who have won a franchise-record nine straight
playoff games. Detroit previously won eight in a row in both
1952 and 1995.

"It was a total team effort," Osgood said. "Everybody has a job
and they relish doing it. We have a game plan and we stick to
it. We stay composed more than we did in the past."

Since taking over for six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik
Hasek in Game Four of the conference quarterfinals against
Nashville, Osgood has posted a 1.47 goals-against average and a
.939 save percentage - both league bests this postseason.

"He was our best goalie all year," Babcock said of Osgood. "He
won the most games, he played really, really well. And he
played well last year. Ever since he's worked on his butterfly,
he's been back to being a real good goalie.

"You've got to give the guy a lot of credit for reinventing
himself. He's now back at the top of his game. He's a great
teammate, that's what he is. He's a great guy. He's funny,
he's good to be around, the guys play hard for him. They really
like him. But he's given them an opportunity right now. At
playoff time, goaltending is everything."

Rookie blue-liner Nicklas Grossman and Brad Richards tallied for
Dallas, which hopes to avoid being swept when it hosts Game
Four on Wednesday.

"Belief is what we have," Turco said. "We've won four games (in
a row) plenty of times, and we're not going to focus and rely
on bounces and hoped-fors. There's only one way to do this, and
that's just make it happen. It's going to be a tall order, but
one at a time."

"This team has battled and been resilient all year, and we're
not changing a thing," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We'll
got to practice (Tuesday) and we'll practice and gear up for
Game Four and come and compete our hardest and see if we can win
a game."

The Stars nearly took their first lead in the series 6 1/2
minutes into the opening period. But after splitting a pair of
defenders for a short breakaway, Toby Petersen was denied by
Osgood, keeping the game scoreless.

Less than three minutes later, the Red Wings got on the board
courtesy of Datsyuk.

From the top of the right faceoff circle, Zetterberg dished to
Datsyuk, who unleashed a backhander from the slot that caromed
off the left goalpost and into the net at 9:27.

"They tried to play more physical and more attack, and then we
tried to force them," Datsyuk said. "We tried to make it easy
and tried to play more in the O-zone. We're happy we could make
it, we scored first."

"We played a lot of games together and we find that chemistry,"
Zetterberg said. "Some nights, it works a little better than
others."

The assist extended Zetterberg's points streak to eight games,
four shy of matching the franchise postseason record set by Hall
of Famer Gordie Howe in 1964.

"They're good players, and good players play when it counts,"
Babcock said. "That's what they do."

"You just want to let those guys loose," Detroit's Kris Draper
said. "You can't say enough about them. The way those guys are
playing is unreal."

A finalist for the Selke Trophy, Datsyuk gave Detroit a 2-1 edge
with 4:10 remaining in the first with his 18th career
postseason tally. Tomas Holmstrom completed a pass from the
left faceoff dot to the All-Star Russian, who backhanded it by
Turco from the doorstep for his third multi-goal performance of
the playoffs.

"It's all about confidence with Pavel," Draper said. "And he's
got a lot of it right now."

"He's working hard and it's great to see him get rewarded,"
Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He's able to have two
players on him and still get to the net or find openings and
still go hard to the net. It was great to see him get three
goals like that."

Datsyuk's second goal came just 37 seconds after the Stars had
forged a 1-1 tie.

"I thought it gave us the momentum right back," Lidstrom said.
"They got the crowd into it, but to get that second goal was
very important for our team and got our bench going. I thought
it was a momentum-swinging goal for us."

"You feel like you've got a lot of momentum going your way, and
then the next shift, we gave it right back," Tippett said.
"Those are demoralizing things."

With the Red Wings ahead, 4-2, Datsyuk completed his hat trick -
and Detroit's third this postseason - with 2:41 left in the
third.

After Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen coughed up the puck in the
right corner, Zetterberg fed Datsyuk, who beat Turco from the
slot to seal the victory.

"They were awesome tonight," Osgood said. "I'm at a loss for
words."

"Most of the time, he's real good," Zetterberg said of Datsyuk.
"His lowest level is really high. He plays real good for us,
night in, night out. And you know you can really trust him
because he will play good offense and good defense for us every
time he's out there."

Tippett admitted his team was unable to control the duo of
Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

"We didn't have much answers for them tonight," Tippett said.
"Those two are a rare breed because they're a line that you look
at that you should be checking, but in actual fact, they're a
checking line. So those players are a rare couple players."

Grossman knotted the game at 1-1 with 4:47 remaining in the
first with his first career playoff goal. From the left corner,
Mike Modano made a backhand pass to the 23-year-old Swede, who
one-timed a shot past Osgood from the slot.

The Stars deadlocked the contest again at 2-2 early in the
second on a fluke play.

From along the left wing boards near the end line, Richards
attempted a pass in front. But the puck caromed off the left
leg of defenseman Brad Stuart and past Osgood at 3:47 for
Richards' third of the postseason.

"We want to get a lead in this series," Richards said. "We
still haven't had that. A 2-2 hockey game on home ice in the
second period, you'd like to think you could get a lead."

But Hudler put Detroit ahead for good with 8:06 to go in the
period, beating Turco to the glove side with a backhander after
receiving a pass from defenseman Niklas Kronwall for a
breakaway.

"I thought after we scored the third goal, the game was over,"
Babcock said. "We had the puck in the third period, and even
when they were on the power play, we still seemed to have the
puck."

"Some bad changes caused the Hudler goal, and four guys to
Zetterberg for Datsyuk's third," Modano said. "Some breakdowns
here and there, and you can't afford that against these guys.
You're pretty much expected to play a mistake-free game and
everybody needs to be at such a high level."

Kronwall's assist was his 11th of the playoffs, moving him
within two of the franchise mark set by Lidstrom in 1998 and
matched by another current teammate, Chris Chelios, in 2002.

The Red Wings, who had their string of six consecutive games
with a power-play goal snapped, doubled their lead with a
shorthander early in the third.

With Holmstrom in the penalty box for goaltender interference,
Zetterberg raced down the right wing 1-on-1 against Richards,
who was manning the point for the Stars on the power play.

Recognizing he was up against a forward, Zetterberg cut across
the slot to the bottom of the left circle before wristing the
puck past Turco 98 seconds into the period for a 4-2 bulge.

"I came pretty fresh from the bench," Zetterberg said. "I
looked up, saw it was a forward, and I knew he'd been out there
for a while. I guess I had a little bit more energy. They
weren't backchecking, so it made it easy for me to cut in the
middle."

"I thought he gave us a lot of momentum when he got that goal,"
Lidstrom said. "He realized they had a forward back there at
the point and he took advantage of it. It was a great
individual effort."